Eye tracking system with off-axis light sources

ABSTRACT

An event camera system for pupil detection may include a camera assembly and a controller, and may also include one or more off-axis light sources. The camera assembly may include one or more infrared (IR) light sources and an event camera. The one or more IR light sources are configured to emit pulses of IR light along an optical path toward an eyebox. The IR light is reflected from an eye in the eyebox, and the reflected light propagates back along the optical path toward the event camera for detection. The controller is configured to determine an orientation of the eye using data output from the event camera.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 17/552,741, filed Dec. 16, 2021, which claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Application No. 63/126,750, filed on Dec. 17, 2020, thecontent of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This disclosure relates generally to eye tracking, and more specificallyto using an event camera system for pupil detection and eye tracking.

BACKGROUND

Eye-tracking systems capture images of the eyes in order to determinethe 3D gaze of the user, or a 2D projection of that gaze onto a surfaceor plane, such as a screen or typical viewing distance. This is doneeither through a computer vision segmentation of the image of the eyeinto various parts, i.e. pupil, sclera, iris, eye lids, canthus, etc.,the features of which are then exported as parameters that can be usedto calculate the user's gaze based on calibration data or generate aneye model for the same purpose, or the eye images are fed directly intoa neural network or other machine learning approach that infers thesegmentation and/or user's gaze directly from the images based on adatabase of labeled eye images. The parameters extracted from atraditional computer vision approach can also be used with a machinelearning approach, with or without the images of the eyes, which mayalso be scaled to various lower resolutions. In all cases, the qualityof the images, with respect to contrast, lighting, sensitivity, etc.,and the amount of computation required to extract the features of theeye or infer the gaze directly from the images is of first importance tothe robustness and quality of the gaze estimate. This is especially truein a head-mounted, mobile system intended to operate both indoors andoutdoors, in uncontrolled and variable lighting conditions. Thecomplexity of extracting information from the eye images, especially thecrucial pupil position, requires high complexity in the computer visionalgorithms used for the task, and robustness to environmental effects onthose images is the main challenge remaining for eye-tracking systems.

SUMMARY

An event camera system for pupil detection and eye tracking isdisclosed. The event camera system may include a camera assembly and acontroller, and may also include one or more off-axis light sources. Insome embodiments, the camera assembly may include a co-aligned lightsource camera assembly (“co-aligned LSCA”). In some embodiments, the oneor more off-axis light sources are not part of the event camera system,and instead the one or more off-axis light sources generate some or allof the ambient light. The camera assembly includes one or more infrared(IR) light sources and an event camera. The one or more IR light sourcesare configured to emit pulses of IR light along an optical path towardan eyebox. The IR light is reflected from an eye in the eyebox, and thereflected light propagates back along the optical path toward the eventcamera for detection. Likewise, in embodiments, including the one ormore off-axis light sources, at least a portion of pulses of lightemitted from the one or more off-axis light sources reflect off of theeye and surrounding facial regions, and propagate along the optical pathtoward the event camera for detection. Light reflected by the retina, byway of the pupil, from the one or more IR lights may increase theintensity on a pixel of a sensor of the event camera above a thresholdlevel to detect an event. In contrast, light reflected by the eye orfacial features surrounding the eye from the one or more off-axissources may be tuned to be within the trigger threshold of the eventcamera such that it does not generate events. In some embodiments, aplurality of off-axis light sources are arranged in a ring shape aboutan axis of the event camera. The light reflected back to the sensor foreach off-axis light source may correspond to a portion of a perimeter ofthe pupil. The event camera system may combine the data for eachoff-axis camera into a bright ring corresponding to the perimeter of thepupil. The controller is configured to determine an orientation of theeye using data output from the event camera.

In some embodiments, the eye tracking system includes a first infrared(IR) light source, an event camera, and a controller. The first IR lightsource is configured to emit a first pulse of IR light over a first timeperiod. The first pulse of IR light is directed (e.g., via a co-axialLED or via a beam splitter) along an optical path towards an eyeboxincluding an eye of a user. The eye reflects a portion of the firstpulse of IR light back along the optical path at a first brightnesstowards a target area. The eye reflects IR light originating from anoff-axis IR light source (e.g., another IR light source of the eyetracking system, IR light from a local area of the user, etc.) backalong the optical path towards the target area at a second brightness.Light reflected to the event camera from the off-axis IR light sourceoff the eye may remain relatively constant during the first time period.The event camera is located in the target area. The event camera isconfigured to detect IR light reflected from the eyebox along theoptical path. The event camera includes a plurality of photodiodes. Eachphotodiode is configured to detect an intensity value corresponding to aportion of the reflected first pulse of IR light, and asynchronouslyoutput a data value that is based at least in part on a difference of adata value previously output by the photodiode and the intensity valuedetected by the photodiode relative to an intensity threshold value. Thecontroller is configured to identify a pupil of the eye from data valuesoutput from the event camera resulting from the first pulse. Thecontroller also is configured to determine a gaze location of the userbased in part on the identified pupil.

In some embodiments, a method may comprise receiving, by a sensor of anevent camera, infrared light from a plurality of off-axis light sourcesthat reflects from an eye of a user; identifying a pupil of the eye fromdata values output from the event camera, wherein the identifyingcomprises detecting a bright ring corresponding to a perimeter of thepupil; and determining, based on the bright ring, a gaze location of theuser.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an event camera system for differential pupil detection, inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 2A is the event camera system of FIG. 1 at a first time period, inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 2B is the event camera system of FIG. 1 at a second time period, inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 3A is an example showing optical paths for an off-axis light sourceand a co-aligned LSCA that includes a beam splitter, in accordance withone or more embodiments.

FIG. 3B is an example showing optical paths for an off-axis light sourceand a co-aligned LSCA that includes a miniaturized light source in theoptical path of an event camera, in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 4A is an example timing diagram for an event camera system fordifferential pupil detection for a single frame, according to one ormore embodiments.

FIG. 4B is an example timing diagram for an event camera system fordifferential pupil detection including an off-axis light source for asingle frame, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 4C is an example timing diagram for an event camera system fordifferential pupil detection for multiple frames, according to one ormore embodiments.

FIG. 4D is an example timing diagram for an event camera systemincluding an off-axis light source where the IR light source is enabledduring illumination by the off-axis light source.

FIG. 4E is an example illuminance diagram of the relative increase inilluminance for pixels corresponding to the pupil and pixelscorresponding to the skin.

FIG. 5A is an event camera system for differential pupil detection thatincludes a plurality of off-axis light sources, in accordance with oneor more embodiments.

FIG. 5B is an event camera system for differential pupil detection thatincludes a plurality of off-axis light sources in a ring pattern, inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process for determining eyeorientation using event camera system for differential pupil detection,in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 7A is a perspective view of a headset including the event camerasystem for differential pupil detection, in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 7B is a cross section of the headset of FIG. 7A.

The figures depict various embodiments for purposes of illustrationonly. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the followingdiscussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methodsillustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principlesdescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This is a system to use an event camera system to produce ahigh-contrast image of a pupil segmented from the background byexploiting the bright pupil reflex of the eye. In some embodiments, theevent camera may include a co-aligned light source. When a light sourcehits the eye, the light that enters the pupil reflects off the curvedretina such that the light returns to the source, which may beco-located with the camera sensor. This gives a characteristic brightpupil image in which the pupil is seen as high intensity values. Incontrast, light from an off-axis source does not reflect off the retinato reach the camera, and instead produces a dark pupil image in whichthe pupil is seen as low intensity values relative to the rest of theimage of the eye. Light from the off-axis source reflects off otherportions of the eye and surrounding facial features to reach the camerasensor. The detected light reflected off the other portions of the eyeand surrounding areas may stay constant or increase by minimal amountsin response to illumination of the pupil from the co-aligned lightsource, which may not result in events at these locations. The brightand dark pupil images may be subtracted to produce a high contrast imagethat only includes the pupil. With a traditional camera, this approachrequires two separate images to be captured, which cannot be donesufficiently fast in practice to produce robust images of the pupilgiven the high speed of eye movements. By combining this technique withan event camera system, the system is able to capture and isolate onlythe changes in the eye image at the instant the illumination is switchedbetween various bright pupil (co-aligned light source) and dark pupil(off-axis light source) combinations. This yields events that show onlythe high-contrast change in the pupil itself, greatly simplifyingdown-stream processing on the image output, especially compared to thecomplicated architecture usually required to analyze event camera systemfeeds.

The disclosed systems provide various benefits. In contrast toconventional video-based eye tracking, a sensor may use significantlyless power to detect the pupil location at equivalent frame rates.Additionally, the processor may utilize significantly less power toanalyze frames containing just a pupil detected by the event camera asopposed to analyzing entire video frames. Additionally, the disclosedsystems are capable of tracking the pupil even when partially occludedor near other dark objects such as mascara, tattoos, or skin blemishes.In contrast conventional systems may mistake dark objects as being thepupil. Furthermore, conventional camera based systems have difficultytracking the pupil if the camera is out of focus, such as if a headsetmoves closer or further from a user's eyes. In contrast, the presentsystems may detect the pupil location with the reflected light even ifthe camera assembly moves relative to the user's eyes.

In some embodiments, the system may activate the co-aligned light sourcewhile the off-axis light source is activated. The off-axis light sourcemay create a high baseline of light reflecting off surfaces other thanthe pupil. In response to the co-aligned light source being activated,the event camera system may detect events at locations within the pupil.The high baseline of detected light at non-pupil locations may decreasethe number of triggering events at those locations.

In some embodiments, the system may include multiple off-axis lightsources and no co-aligned light source. The off-axis light sources maybe arranged in a ring about an axis of the event camera. Off-axis lightsources that are positioned close to the axis of the event camera mayresult in partial reflection from the off-axis light source off theretina to the event camera. Sensor data captured by each off-axis lightsource may result in a crescent shape at a portion of the edge of thepupil. Combining the data from all sensors may produce a bright ring atthe perimeter of the pupil. The perimeter of the pupil may be used todetermine the pupil diameter, pupil center, and gaze location.

FIG. 1 is an event camera system 100 for differential pupil detection,in accordance with one or more embodiments. The event camera system 100may be integrated within a headset (e.g., as described in detail belowwith regard to FIGS. 7A and 7B), a tablet, a computer, a car dashboard,a television, a mobile device, some other system that uses eye tracking,or some combination thereof. The event camera system 100 includes atleast one camera assembly 105 (“camera assembly 105”), a controller 110,and may optionally include one or more off-axis light sources (e.g.,off-axis light source 115). In some embodiments, the camera assembly 105may comprise a co-aligned light source and be referred to as aco-aligned light source camera assembly (LSCA).

A light source of the camera assembly 105 may emit and receive lightalong an optical path 120. The camera assembly 105 may include one ormore infrared (IR) light sources (may be referred to as co-aligned IRsource(s)) and one or more event cameras. The one or more IR lightsources may be, e.g., a light emitting diode, a vertical cavitysurface-emitting laser (VCSEL), some other IR or near IR light source,or some combination thereof. The one or more IR light sources generallyare configured to emit light in the IR and/or near IR band. In someembodiments, there are a plurality of IR light sources, and at least twoof the IR light sources emit in different optical bands. The one or moreIR light sources are configured to emit pulses of IR light in accordancewith instructions from the controller 110. The emitted pulses of lightare directed such that they propagate along the optical path 120 towardan eyebox 125. The eyebox 125 is a region in space that would beoccupied by an eye 130 of a user and may also include surrounding facialfeatures, such as the eyelashes and skin surrounding the eye 130. Insome embodiments, the camera assembly includes multiple IR light sourcesarranged in a ring about the optical path 120.

The camera assembly 105 may be co-aligned in the sense that the opticalone or more IR light sources are substantially aligned with the opticalpaths for the one or more event cameras. The angle between optical pathsof the of the one or more event cameras and optical paths of the one ormore IR light sources is kept sufficiently small such that they canessentially overlap to form the optical path 120. Light emitted from theone or more IR light sources travels to the eye 130 and reflects from aretina 140 back along the optical path 120 to the one or more IR lightsources and the one or more event cameras. The optical paths may bealigned to form the optical path 120 in a variety ways. For example, abeam-splitter or other optical mixing device within the camera assembly105 may be used to align the optical paths, the one or more IR lightsources and the one or more event cameras can be mounted side-by-side inthe camera assembly 105 with a sufficiently small center-to-centerspacing, the one or more IR light sources and the one or more eventcameras may share a common substrate within the camera assembly 105(e.g., a substrate with IR illumination pixels and sensing pixelsinterleaved), the one or more IR light sources may be coupled along theoptical path to an optical element, such as a lens, or some combinationthereof. The camera assembly 105 may also incorporate various opticalfilters including a band-pass filter specific to the wavelength of thelight sources, a spatially-varying bandpass filter in the case ofinterleaved illumination and event camera pixels, or some combinationthereof.

The IR light is reflected from the retina 140, and the reflected lightpropagates back along the optical path 120 toward the event camerawithin the camera assembly 105 for detection. The one or more eventcameras (also commonly referred to as a dynamic vision sensor) areconfigured to detect an intensity value corresponding to IR lightreflected from the eye 130 along the optical path 120. An event camera,of the one or more event cameras, includes a plurality of photodiodes,and each photodiode is configured to asynchronously output a data valuethat is based at least in part on a difference of a data valuepreviously output by the photodiode and the intensity value detected bythe photodiode relative to an intensity threshold value.

The one or more off-axis light sources emit light off-axis from theoptical path 120 in accordance with instructions from the controller110. The one or more off-axis light sources include the off-axis lightsource 115. An off-axis light source may be, e.g., a light emittingdiode, a vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) some other IR ornear IR light source, or some combination thereof. An off-axis lightsource is configured to emit light in the IR and/or near IR band. Insome embodiments, the one or more off-axis light sources emit light at asame wavelength as the one or more IR sources of the camera assembly105. In some embodiments, there are a plurality of off-axis lightsources, and at least two of the off-axis light sources emit indifferent optical bands. The one or more off-axis light sources may beconfigured to emit pulses of IR light in accordance with instructionsfrom the controller 110. The emitted pulses of light are directed suchthat they propagate toward the eyebox 125 along an optical path that isseparate from the optical path 120. Note that in some embodiments, thereare no off-axis light sources that are part of the event camera system100, instead off-axis light is ambient light, and the one or moreoff-axis sources are the light sources that generate some or all of theambient light.

The controller 110 controls components of the event camera system 100.The controller 110 may, e.g., control the activation and intensity ofthe one or more IR light sources, control the activation and intensityof the off-axis light source 115, and control the threshold settings andframe capture enable for the one or more event cameras. The one or moreIR light sources and the one or more event cameras may be part of asingle co-aligned LSAC 105 and/or part of several co-aligned LSAC 105 s(e.g., one co-aligned LSAC 105 for each eye of the user). The controller110 may adjust the intensity settings of the light sources (i.e., theone or more IR light sources and/or the off-axis light source 115) andthreshold settings of the one or more event cameras dynamicallyaccording to the data values from the one or more event cameras; one ormore separate external sensors (e.g., such as an ambient light sensingphotodiode or a traditional camera imager also capturing images of theeye), or some combination thereof. The controller 110 may synchronizethe activation of each light source (i.e., the one or more IR lightsources and/or the off-axis light source 115) with the activation of theone or more event cameras, enabling the one or more event cameras togenerate and output data values in a time window corresponding to aspecific configuration of the illumination settings.

In some embodiments, the controller 110 sets the light sources (i.e.,the one or more IR light sources and the off-axis light source 115) andone or more event cameras to capture data values with only the off-axislight source 115 activated. In these cases, a pupil 150 of the eye 130and/or another eye of the user appear relatively dark in the data valuesthat are processed by the controller 110. In some embodiments, thecontroller 110 sets the light sources and the one or more event camerasto capture data values with only the co-aligned light source 105activated. In these cases, a pupil 150 of the eye 130 and/or another eyeof the user appear relatively bright in the data values that areprocessed by the controller 110. In some embodiments, the controller 110may capture only one of these two configurations, or multiple additionalimages with other configurations of light sources, including theoff-axis light source 115 being either always on or always off. In someembodiments, the controller 110 sets the light sources and the one ormore event cameras to capture data values while the off-axis lightsource 115 is active and the co-aligned light source 105 is switchedfrom a deactivated state to an activated state. In these cases, a pupil150 of the eye appear relatively bright in the data values that areprocessed by the controller 110.

The controller 110 reads data values from the one or more event cameras.The controller 110 processes the data values to identify a pupil of theeye. The controller 110 may determine eye orientation and/or gazelocation of the eye based on the identified pupil.

In some embodiments, the event camera system 100 may be configured todetect the presence and location of eyes within a room. For example, theevent camera system 100 may be located at a fixed position within aroom. In some embodiments, the event camera system 100 may compriseintegrated co-aligned and/or off-axis illuminators. In some embodiments,the event camera system 100 may comprise off-axis illuminators atdifferent locations within the room. The event camera system 100 may beintegrated within, for example, a television, phone, sign, or computer.The controller 110 may be configured to identify any pupils of eyeswithin the field of view of the event camera system. The controller 110may determine a number of pupils detected within the room as well as ageneral gaze direction of the pupils, such as whether the pupils arelooking in the direction of the event camera system 100. Detecting thebright pupils with the event camera system 100 may utilize much lessprocessing power than processing full images to detect pupils.Room-scale tracking may be used for many applications, such as peoplecounting, attention tracking, privacy preserving measures, or any othersuitable scenario in which it may be beneficial to detect eyes.

FIG. 2A is the event camera system of FIG. 1 at a first time period, inaccordance with one or more embodiments. In this first time period, thecontroller 110 activates the off-axis light source 115 and enables theevent camera to output image data. Light from the off-axis light source115 that reaches the pupil 150 and hits the curved retina 140 at theback of the eye 130 will reflect back through the pupil 150 to the lightsource, in this case at the off-axis light source 115 location. Some orall of this light will not reach an event camera at the camera assembly105, while the rest of the light that reaches the eye box 125 willreflect in all directions, including reaching the camera assembly 105.In a traditional imager this would produce a dark pupil image in whichmost features in the eye box 125 are brightly illuminated, but the pupil150 itself has relatively low intensity values due to the curved retina140 acting as a retroreflector. In some embodiments, the output of theevent camera is discarded at this time period, while in otherembodiments the off-axis light source 115 may be turned on sufficientlylong for the output of the event camera to show no changes. Note thatpixels of the event camera responsive to a constant input do not outputa data value or output a no-change value. In some embodiments theoff-axis light source 115 activation in this time period may beneglected entirely.

In some embodiments, while the off-axis light source 115 is activated,the controller 110 may switch the camera assembly 105 from thedeactivated state to the activated state. The pixels of the event cameramay detect a change in the light reflected by the pupil 150 back to thecamera assembly 105. Due to the light from the off-axis light source 115being reflected by areas other than the pupil, the pixels of the eventcamera may not detect an event at locations other than the pupil. Thus,the event camera may output a bright pupil image.

FIG. 2B is the event camera system of FIG. 1 at a second time period, inaccordance with one or more embodiments. In this second time period, theoff-axis light source 115 is deactivated by the controller 110, and theone or more IR light sources in the camera assembly 105 are activated bythe controller 110, and the event camera is enabled to output datavalues. Light from the one or more IR light sources that reach the pupil150 will reflect from the curved retina 140 in the back of the eye 130and pass back through the pupil 150 along the optical path 120 to theone or more event cameras of the camera assembly 105. The rest of thelight that reaches the eye box 125 reflects in all directions, includingalong the optical path 120 of the camera assembly 105. Because themajority of the light that enters the pupil 150 is retroreflected backto the camera assembly 105, the pupil 150 would appear relatively brightin a traditional imager compared to the rest of the image of the eye,producing a “bright pupil image.” However, in an event camera, thetransition from a “dark pupil” from the previous (first) time periodcharacterized by the activation of the off-axis light source 115, to the“bright pupil” in this current (second) time period characterized by theactivation of the co-aligned light source produces a pronounceddifference image described by the data values output by the one or moreevent cameras. The difference image is localized to a region ofincluding the pupil 150.

In some embodiments, the camera assembly 105 may detect glints from oneor more light sources reflecting off a surface of the eye 130. The lightsources may be the off-axis light source 115, the co-aligned lightsource of the camera assembly 105, or any other suitable light source.The controller 110 may analyze the glints in combination with the brightpupil image to determine a position of the eye 130. Different lightsources may be strobed at different frequencies. The controller maydetermine that a glint detected at a first location corresponds to afirst light source based on the frequency of the detected glint.Similarly, the controller may determine that a glint detected at asecond location corresponds to a second light source based on thefrequency of the detected glint at the second location.

FIG. 3A is an example showing optical paths for an off-axis light sourceand a co-aligned LSCA 310 that includes a beam splitter 320, inaccordance with one or more embodiments. The beam splitter 320 includesa first port 360, a second port 370, and a third port 380. In thisembodiment, the beam splitter 320 passes receives light from the IRlight source 330 at the first port 360, and redirects at least a portionof the received light out of the beam splitter 320 at the third port 380in a forward direction along the optical path 120 towards the eye 130. Aportion of the light returning from the eye 130 is received at thebeamsplitter 320 at the third port 380, and the beamsplitter directs aportion of the received light out of the second port 370 towards anevent camera 340 of the co-aligned LSCA 310. This configuration allowsthe optical path 120 of the IR light source 330 at the first port 360 ofthe beam splitter 320 to be exactly co-aligned with the optical path 120of the event camera 340 at the second input port 370 of the beamsplitter 320. This ensures the light from the IR light source 330 isretroreflected from a retina of the eye 130 and that the retroflectedlight reaches the event camera 340. Light from the off-axis IR lightsource 320 can reflect in all directions from the eye 130 and stillreach the event camera 340.

As illustrated, the co-aligned LSCA 310 includes a filter 350 that isconfigured to transmit light in a narrow band that includes a wavelengthof the light emitted by the IR light source 330 and light emitted by theoff-axis IR light source 320, and attenuate other wavelengths of light.In this manner, the filter 350 attenuating ambient light received at theevent camera 340. And while illustrated as being separate from the eventcamera 340, in alternate embodiments, the filter 350 may be integratedinto the event camera 340.

In alternate embodiments, the beam splitter 320 is omitted and alignmentof the optical path 120 of the IR light source 330 and event camera 340is approximately matched by placing the IR light source 330 and eventcamera 340 side-by-side with a sufficiently small center-to-centerspacing such that the light from the IR light source 330 that passesthrough a pupil of the eye 130 and is retroreflected from the retinaback to the co-aligned LSCA 310 is also received at the event camera340.

Likewise, as discussed above with regard to FIG. 1 , in someembodiments, the beam splitter 320 is omitted, and the IR light source330 is replaced with a plurality of IR illumination pixels that areinterleaved with sensing pixels, and the IR illumination pixels and thesensing pixels share a common substrate. The IR illumination pixelsfunction in the same manner as the IR light source 330 in that theyilluminate the eye 130 via the optical path 120. And the sensing pixelsare the pixels of the event camera. As such the functionality of theevent camera 340 and the IR light source 330 are combined and integratedinto a single device that includes both sensing pixels and IRillumination pixels on a common substrate.

FIG. 3B is an example showing optical paths for an off-axis light sourceand a co-aligned LSCA that includes a miniaturized light source in theoptical path of an event camera, in accordance with one or moreembodiments. The IR light source 330 may be coupled to an opticalelement 390. The optical element 390 may comprise a lens, window,mirror, grating, or any other suitable optical element. In someembodiments, the optical element 390 is a lens. The IR light source 330may be along a central axis of the optical path 120. The IR light source330 may be small relative to the lens 390, such as occupying less than1% or less than 5% of the area of the lens 390. In some embodiments, theIR light source 330 may have a diameter of less than 3 mm, less than 1mm, less than 100 microns, or less than 10 microns. Thus, the IR lightsource 330 may only minimally occlude the sensor of the event camera340.

FIG. 4A is an example timing diagram 400 for an event camera system(e.g., the event camera system 100) for differential pupil detection fora single frame, according to one or more embodiments. Here the scenebegins with only ambient illumination from the environment. In thiscase—the off-axis source(s) may be thought of sources that are notcontrolled by the event camera system and produce some or all of theambient light. A controller (e.g., the controller 110) then enables datavalue output from an event camera of a camera assembly (e.g., of thecamera assembly 105), then enables (turns on) a co-aligned IR lightsource of the camera assembly, and later disables data value output fromthe event camera. The enabled pulse for the IR light source may have apulse width of no more than 1 second, and may be much shorter. Forexample, an overall “frame rate” or period of the whole system may be 30Hz (roughly 33 ms period). In that case the pulse width is 10 ms with acorresponding pulse rate of 50 or 100 Hz at <50% duty cycle. In someembodiments, the duty cycle may be greater than 0% and less than 100%.The event camera thus outputs data values during the transition of theco-aligned IR light source from off to on, which due to the bright pupileffect shows a large change in intensity values in pixels that include apupil of the eye. The controller then sets a threshold of the eventcamera such that small background changes are not reported by the eventcamera in the data values that are output. The controller mayfurthermore group all events from the time period where the event cameraenable is activated into a single “frame” analogous to a traditionalimage frame. For example, data values would include a timestamp of amagnitude of a change at a specific pixel at a specific time, and thecontroller would group the data values as a single 2D matrix coveringall pixels that reported changes during this entire time period, muchlike a traditional camera. In some embodiments, the event camera enableis configured to capture the falling edge of the illumination signalinstead of the rising edge.

Note that in FIG. 4A, the event camera is enabled at a same time periodcovering activation of the IR light source. In other embodiments, thetiming could be modified such that the event camera is enabled at a timeperiod covering de-activation of the IR light source (i.e., going fromemitting light to not emitting light).

FIG. 4B is an example timing diagram 440 for an event camera system(e.g., the event camera system 100) for differential pupil detectionincluding an off-axis light source (e.g., the off-axis light source 115)for a single frame, according to one or more embodiments. In this case,a controller (e.g., the controller 110) first enables (turns on) theoff-axis light source, and then enables data value output from an eventcamera of a camera assembly (e.g., of the camera assembly 105). Whilethe event camera is enabled, the controller disables (turns off) theoff-axis light source and enables (turns on) an IR light source of thecamera assembly. This triggers data value output that shows a largetransition in intensity values at a pupil (e.g., the pupil 150) fromdark pupil to bright pupil illumination. The controller may then disabledata value output from the event camera and then disable (turn off) theIR light source of the camera assembly. The data values output from theevent camera during this time period may be grouped together into asingle “frame” that describes changes in image data during thesynchronized switching of the light sources.

FIG. 4C is an example timing diagram 470 for an event camera system(e.g., the event camera system 100) for differential pupil detection formultiple frames, according to one or more embodiments. A controller(e.g., the controller 110) may capture multiple frames by repeating thesequence of IR light source enable signals and event camera enablesignals according to whichever embodiment is implemented. These framesmay be requested at a fixed framerate by periodically strobing theillumination and enabling the event camera output, or frames may berequested at variable timings that are dynamically selected by thecontroller 110 by strobing the illumination at the desired times. Notethat as illustrated the event camera enable time period is longer than,e.g., the event camera enable period shown in FIG. 4B. In otherembodiments, the event camera enable period may be similar to what isshown in FIG. 4B.

The controller may instruct the IR light source of the co-aligned LSAC,and in some cases the one or more off-axis IR light sources, to eachemit a plurality of pulses at respective pulse lengths and duty cycles,and periodically enable the event camera of the co-aligned LSAC tocapture data values. The controller may generate image frames using datavalues output as a result of each respective pulse of the IR lightsource, and tracks an orientation of the eye based in part on thegenerated image frames.

FIG. 4D is an example timing diagram 480 for an event camera system(e.g., the event camera system 100) for differential pupil detectionincluding an off-axis light source (e.g., the off-axis light source 115)for a single frame, according to one or more embodiments. In this case,a controller (e.g., the controller 110) first enables (turns on) theoff-axis light source, and then enables data value output from an eventcamera of a camera assembly (e.g., of the camera assembly 105). Whilethe event camera is enabled, the controller enables (turns on) anon-axis IR light source of the camera assembly. This triggers data valueoutput that shows a large transition in intensity values at a pupil(e.g., the pupil 150) without triggering data value outputs at non-pupillocations due to the reflected light from the off-axis light source. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 4E in the presence of an off-axis lightsource, when the on-axis light source is enabled at t=1, the pixelilluminance P corresponding to pupil locations crosses an eventthreshold (shown by the dashed line) at point A. However, the pixelilluminance P corresponding to skin locations does not cross the eventthreshold, because due to bias from the off-axis illumination, theamount of light reflected back from the on-axis lights source is notenough to raise the pixel illuminance above the threshold level. In someembodiments, the controller may modulate the intensity of the cameraassembly multiple times during a single frame to potentially triggermultiple events. For example, the intensity of the IR source of thecamera assembly may be modulated in a square wave pattern, triangle wavepattern, or some combination thereof. Regardless of the shape of thepulse, the amplitude of the pulse may be modulated one or more timesduring a frame such that the amplitude of the signal is sufficient thatthe event threshold is crossed one or more times during the frame. Insome embodiments, the intensity of the camera assembly may graduallyincrease in a ramp during the single frame. The controller may thendisable data value output from the event camera and then disable (turnoff) the IR light source of the camera assembly. The controller may thendisable (turns off) the off-axis light source. The data values outputfrom the event camera during this time period may be grouped togetherinto a single “frame” that describes changes in image data during thesynchronized switching of the light sources.

FIG. 5A is an event camera system 500 for differential pupil detectionthat includes a plurality of off-axis light sources, in accordance withone or more embodiments. The event camera system 500 may be anembodiment of the event camera system 100. The camera system 500includes a plurality of off-axis light sources 520, a co-aligned LSCA510, and a controller (not shown). The co-aligned LSAC 510 issubstantially the same as the camera assembly 105. The off-axis lightsources 520 are an embodiment of the off-axis light sources of FIG. 1where the off-axis light sources are arranged in positions of increasingdistance from the co-aligned LSCA 510. The off-axis light sources 520may be placed in multiple locations in order to accommodate extremes ingaze directions and corresponding pupil and eye orientations.

In some embodiments, controller may instruct the co-aligned LSCA 510 andthe off-axis light sources 520 to sequentially emit light whilecollecting data values from an event camera of the co-aligned LSCA 510.In this manner data values resulting from changes in illumination of apupil of the eye caused by different off-axis light sources—ofincreasing distance from the co-aligned LSCA 510 are captured. Notethat, a co-aligned IR light source in the co-aligned LSCA 510 stillresults in a bright pupil image of the eye 130 as light is reflecteddirectly back from the eye 130 to the event camera of the co-alignedLSAC 510. Similarly, light from the furthest off-axis light sources 520c still result in a dark pupil image as the light source is sufficientlyoff-axis that light that enters the pupil does not reach the co-alignedLSCA 510. Off-axis light sources that are positioned closely (e.g.,off-axis light source 520 a) to the co-aligned LSCA 510 may besufficiently aligned with the event sensor to still detect an image thatclosely resembles a properly aligned bright pupil image, but off-axislight sources between these extremes (e.g., the off-axis light source520 b) exhibit a mixed bright pupil response, in which only a portion ofthe pupil reflects light back to the event camera from a given off-axislight source location.

The controller can measure the bright pupil response for a plurality ofoff-axis light sources 520 to analyze when the resulting image is abright pupil image, a mixed image, or a dark pupil image. Based on theknown angular tolerances of the bright pupil effect and the knownrelative locations of the off-axis light sources 520 and the co-alignedLSCA 510, the controller 110 can estimate the distance from theco-aligned LSCA 510 to the eye 130. The distance from the co-alignedLSCA 510 to the eye 130, and therefore the distance for all other fixedparts of the system to the eye 130, may be used to extract geometricinformation about the relative position of sensors on the event camerasystem and the user's eyes. This may be incorporated into an eye modelto increase accuracy of the measurement or used as calibrationinformation. This distance along with event camera intrinsics may alsobe used to calculate quantitative features of the eye 130, such as thesize or the user's interpupillary distance (IPD), which in turn is animportant metric for calculating gaze distance from the vergence stateof the eyes. Additionally, in some embodiments the multiple off-axislight sources may be used to select the ideal individual light source orsources to properly illuminate a given users eyes despite variations inface shape and the relative fit of the eye tracking system.

FIG. 5B is an event camera system 550 for differential pupil detectionthat includes a plurality of off-axis light sources, in accordance withone or more embodiments. The event camera system 550 may be anembodiment of the event camera system 100. The camera system 550includes a plurality of off-axis light sources 560, a camera assembly570, and a controller (not shown). The camera assembly 570 may be anembodiment of the camera assembly 105. However, in some embodiments, thecamera assembly 570 does not include a co-aligned light source. Theoff-axis light sources 560 may be placed in multiple locations that areslightly off-axis from the camera assembly 570. The light from eachoff-axis light source 560 may partially reflect off the retina andreflect back to the camera assembly 570, resulting in a crescent shapedpattern at the perimeter of the pupil. In some embodiments there may betwo, three, four, six, eight, or any other suitable number of off-axislight sources 560. The off-axis light sources may be equally spaced in aring about the axis of the camera assembly 570.

In some embodiments, the controller may instruct the off-axis lightsources 560 to sequentially emit light while collecting data values froman event camera of the camera assembly 570. In this manner data valuesresulting from changes in illumination of a pupil of the eye caused bydifferent off-axis light sources—of different angular locations aboutthe axis of the camera assembly 570—are captured. Off-axis light sources560 a, 560 b, 560 c, 560 d exhibit a mixed bright pupil response, inwhich only a portion of the pupil reflects light back to the eventcamera from a given off-axis light source location. By combining theresponse from each of the off-axis light sources, the controller maydetect a bright ring at the edge of the pupil. In some embodiments, thecontroller may strobe the off-axis light sources 560 one at a time in asequence and combine the sensor responses. In some embodiments, thecontroller 560 may activate all off-axis light sources 560simultaneously. By detecting only the locations at the edge of thepupil, the controller may decrease the amount of processing power usedto estimate the gaze direction of the eye 130. The location of the edgeof the pupil may be sufficient to calculate pupil diameter, shape, andcenter location. By detecting events at the edge of the pupil, the eventcamera system 550 may use less processing power by analyzing only thepixels corresponding to the edge of the pupil versus the entire pupil.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process for determining eyeorientation using event camera system 600 for differential pupildetection, in accordance with one or more embodiments. Embodiments mayinclude different and/or additional steps, or perform the steps indifferent orders. The event camera system 600 may be an embodiment ofthe event camera system 100.

The event camera system 600 receives 610, at an event camera of a cameraassembly (e.g., the camera assembly 105), IR light from at least oneoff-axis light source that reflects from an eye of a user. The eye iswithin an eyebox of the event camera system 600. In some embodiments,the off-axis light source is ambient light. In other embodiments, theoff axis light source is part of the event camera system 600, and theevent camera system previously instructed the off-axis light source toemit the IR light (e.g., as one or more IR light pulses) over a timeperiod that at least partially overlaps with a second time period overwhich the event camera is enabled. In some embodiments, the off-axislight source comprises a plurality of light sources arranged in a ringaround an axis of the camera assembly.

The event camera system 600 optionally emits 620 a first pulse of IRlight along an optical path over a first time period from a co-alignedIR source. Note that the first time period overlaps with the time periodthat the event camera is enabled, and in embodiments where the off-axissource is part of the event camera system, the first time periodslightly overlaps with the time period in which the off-axis lightsource is enabled (e.g., as shown in FIGS. 4B and 4C above). The lightis emitted from a co-aligned IR light source that is within the cameraassembly. The first pulse of IR light is directed along the optical pathtowards the eyebox. A retina of the eye reflects a portion of the firstpulse of IR light back along the optical path at a first brightnesstowards a target area. Note that in this case the IR light isessentially being retroflected from the retina of the eye, as such abrightness of the light is brighter than light reflected by the eye fromthe off-axis source.

The event camera system 600 optionally detects 630 IR light reflectedfrom the eyebox along the optical path. The event camera system 600detects the IR light using the event camera. The event camera includes aplurality of photodiodes, and each photodiode is configured to: detectan intensity value corresponding to a portion of the reflected IR light,and asynchronously output a data value that is based at least in part ona difference of a data value previously output by the photodiode and theintensity value detected by the photodiode relative to an intensitythreshold value. Because the event camera measures a differences indetected light, the event camera outputs data values corresponding tothe transition from relatively low brightness of IR light reflected bythe eye from the off-axis source to the relatively high brightness of IRlight retroreflected by the retina from the IR source within the cameraassembly.

The event camera system 600 identifies 640 a pupil of the eye from datavalues output from the event camera. As noted above the event cameraoutputs a difference image. In some embodiments, the light reflectedfrom each off-axis light source and detected by the sensor generates acrescent shape corresponding to a portion of a perimeter of the pupil.By combining the sensor data for each off-axis light source, whethersequentially or simultaneously, the event camera system detects a brightring shape corresponding to the perimeter of the pupil.

In some embodiments, the difference image is associated with the changein brightness caused by retroreflection of light from the co-aligned IRlight source. As such, the data values output by the event sensordescribe among other things a shape of the pupil. Note that a shape ofthe pupil changes as a function of an orientation of the eye. In someembodiments, the controller may perform a series of low-level imageoperations including subtraction, dilation, spatial filtering or ellipsefitting to determine the location of the pupil. In some embodiments someor all of these low-level image operations are implemented in thecontroller 110 in hardware accelerated electronics while some operationsmay be implemented in software. In some embodiments, the controllergenerates an image using the data values, and uses shape recognition toidentify the pupil in the generated image.

The event camera system 600 determines 650 a gaze location of the userbased in part on the identified pupil. In some embodiments, the eventcamera system 600 uses an eye model that maps different shapes of thepupil of one or both eyes to different gaze locations. A gaze locationin this context may be, e.g., a location in space where the gaze of botheyes intersect (i.e., vergence point).

The event camera system 600 dynamically adjusts 660 illumination and/orcamera settings to optimize image quality and detection performance. Thecontroller may, e.g., increase or decrease brightness of light emittedby light sources (i.e., the co-aligned IR source and/or the one or moreoff-axis light sources), adjust periods of time over which the lightsources are active, adjust periods of time over which the event camerais active, adjust which of the one or more off-axis sources are active,adjust a threshold for pixels of the event camera to report a change, orsome combination thereof. As such, the controller may use the above tomitigate and in some cases eliminate background noise from the image tooptimize pupil position detection.

FIG. 7A is a perspective view of a headset 700 including an event camerasystem for differential pupil detection, in accordance with one or moreembodiments. FIG. 7B is a cross section of the headset of FIG. 7A. Theheadset 700 may perform eye tracking for various purposes. In someembodiments, the eye tracking may be used to determine one or morehealth metrics of a user.

In some embodiments, the headset 700 includes a varifocal opticalsystem. The varifocal optical system may dynamically adjust its focallength in accordance with an estimated gaze location of a user of theheadset. The varifocal optical system may include a varifocal lensassembly 720 for each eye. A varifocal lens assembly 720 dynamicallyadjusts its focal length based on a gaze location of the user. Avarifocal lens assembly 720 includes one or more optical elements ofvariable focal length that operate alone or together such that thevarifocal lens assembly has a range of focal lengths. The range of focallengths allows the varifocal lens assembly 720 to provide variableoptical power. The range of optical power may include negative opticalpowers, zero optical power, positive optical powers, or some combinationthereof. In some embodiments, the range of optical power is continuous(e.g., from 0-3 Diopters). In some embodiments, the range of opticalpower is discrete (e.g., 0 to 3 Diopters in increments of 0.1 Diopters).And in some cases, the discrete ranges of optical power may be set tocorrespond to certain distances from the user (e.g., reading distance,computer distance, and more than 20 feet away). An optical element ofvariable focal length may be, e.g., Alvarez lens, a liquid lens, aliquid crystal lens, some other lens with a dynamically adjustable focallength, or some combination thereof. In some embodiments, the varifocallens assembly may also include one or more optical elements of fixedfocal length and/or prisms.

The event camera system is an embodiment of the event camera system 100.The event camera system includes an off-axis light source 760, a cameraassembly 770, and a controller 730. The off-axis light source 760, thecamera assembly 770, and the controller 730 are embodiments of theoff-axis light source 115, the camera assembly 105, and the controller110.

In some embodiments, the lens 720 may be configured to be autofocusedbased on a position of the eyes 130. The user's eyes 130 are naturallyviewing a 3D scene in which an object must be brought into focus by thebiological adjustment of the lens in the eye, as well as the eyes 130rotating such that each has the foveal axis aligned with the object. Therotation of the eyes 130 is known as vergence, which is an indication ofthe distance to the object. As described above with regard to, e.g.,FIGS. 1, 2A, 2B, 4A-C, 5A, 5B, and 6, the off-axis light source 760 andthe camera assembly 770 can be used to gather image data from the eye130 including the pupil position, which the controller 730 computes fromthe data values output by an event camera of the camera assembly 770.The pupil position for each eye can be used to calculate the user's gazelocation (i.e., vergence), and therefore the distance they are lookingto. The controller 730 uses this estimate to drive the focus state ofthe lens 720 in order to match the optical power of the lens to adistance to the estimated gaze location.

In some embodiments, the event camera system 700 is configured to obtainhealth metrics of a user based on eye position. As described above withregard to, e.g., FIGS. 1, 2A, 2B, 4A-C, 5A, 5B, and 6, the off-axislight source 760 and the camera assembly 770 can be used to gather imagedata from the eye 130 including the pupil position, which the controller730 computes from the data values output by an event camera of thecamera assembly 770. The pupil position for each eye can be used tocalculate the user's gaze location. The controller 730 may use thisestimate to track the user's gaze location for any suitable purpose.

ADDITIONAL CONFIGURATION INFORMATION

The foregoing description of the embodiments has been presented forillustration; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the patentrights to the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in the relevantart can appreciate that many modifications and variations are possibleconsidering the above disclosure.

Some portions of this description describe the embodiments in terms ofalgorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information.These algorithmic descriptions and representations are commonly used bythose skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance oftheir work effectively to others skilled in the art. These operations,while described functionally, computationally, or logically, areunderstood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalentelectrical circuits, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has alsoproven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of operationsas modules, without loss of generality. The described operations andtheir associated modules may be embodied in software, firmware,hardware, or any combinations thereof.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may beperformed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules,alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, asoftware module is implemented with a computer program productcomprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code,which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or allthe steps, operations, or processes described.

Embodiments may also relate to an apparatus for performing theoperations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for therequired purposes, and/or it may comprise a general-purpose computingdevice selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer programstored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in anon-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, or any typeof media suitable for storing electronic instructions, which may becoupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore, any computing systemsreferred to in the specification may include a single processor or maybe architectures employing multiple processor designs for increasedcomputing capability.

Embodiments may also relate to a product that is produced by a computingprocess described herein. Such a product may comprise informationresulting from a computing process, where the information is stored on anon-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium and mayinclude any embodiment of a computer program product or other datacombination described herein.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principallyselected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not havebeen selected to delineate or circumscribe the patent rights. It istherefore intended that the scope of the patent rights be limited not bythis detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on anapplication based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodimentsis intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of thepatent rights, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An eye tracking system comprising: a plurality ofoff-axis light sources configured to emit illumination light; a cameraconfigured to: receive light comprising portions of the illuminationlight reflected from a surface of an eye of a user, generating aplurality of data values in response to the received light, anddetecting a bright ring corresponding to a perimeter of a pupil of theeye based on the generated data values; and a controller configured todetermine a gaze location for the eye based at least in part on thedetected bright ring.
 2. The eye tracking system of claim 1, wherein thecamera is further configured to: detect the bright ring by combininginto the bright ring a crescent shape corresponding to reflected lightemitted from each of the plurality of off-axis light sources.
 3. The eyetracking system of claim 1, wherein the camera is further configured to:detect a crescent shaped pattern resulting from partial reflection off aretina of the eye of light emitted from each of the plurality ofoff-axis light sources; and detect the bright ring by combining into thebright ring the detected crescent shape pattern.
 4. The eye trackingsystem of claim 1, further comprising: a co-aligned light source locatedalong an axis of the camera, the co-aligned light source configured toemit light towards the eye, wherein the camera is further configured toreceive a version of the emitted light reflected from the surface of theeye, and the controller is further configured to determine the gazelocation further based on the received version of emitted light.
 5. Theeye tracking system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of off-axis lightsources have different angular locations about an axis of the camera. 6.The eye tracking system of claim 1, wherein each light source of theplurality of off-axis light sources is arranged in a position of arespective increasing distance relative to an axis of the camera.
 7. Theeye tracking system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of off-axis lightsources are arranged in a ring about an axis of the camera.
 8. The eyetracking system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configuredto strobe sequentially the plurality of off-axis light sources.
 9. Theeye tracking system of claim 1, wherein the controller is furtherconfigured to strobe simultaneously the plurality of off-axis lightsources.
 10. The eye tracking system of claim 1, wherein the camera isfurther configured to: detect a plurality of glints from the pluralityof off-axis light sources reflected off the surface of the eye.
 11. Theeye tracking system of claim 10, wherein the controller is furtherconfigured determine the gaze location further based on the detectedplurality of glints.
 12. The eye tracking system of claim 10, whereinthe controller is further configured to: determine that a first glint ofthe plurality of glints detected at a first location on the surface ofthe eye corresponds to a first light source of the plurality of off-axislight sources based on a first frequency of the first glint; anddetermine that a second glint of the plurality of glints detected at asecond location on the surface of the eye corresponds to a second lightsource of the plurality of off-axis light sources based on a secondfrequency of the second glint; and determine the gaze location furtherbased on the detected first and second glints.
 13. A method comprising:receiving, by a camera, light from a plurality of off-axis light sourcesthat reflects from a surface of an eye of a user; generating, by thecamera, a plurality of data values in response to the received light;detecting, by the camera, a bright ring corresponding to a perimeter ofa pupil of the eye based on the generated data values; and determining agaze location for the eye based at least in part on the detected brightring.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: detecting, by thecamera, the bright ring by combining into the bright ring a crescentshape corresponding to reflected light emitted from each of theplurality of off-axis light sources.
 15. The method of claim 13, furthercomprising: detecting, by the camera, a crescent shaped patternresulting from partial reflection off a retina of the eye of lightemitted from each of the plurality of off-axis light sources; anddetecting, by the camera, the bright ring by combining into the brightring the detected crescent shape pattern.
 16. The method of claim 13,further comprising: instructing a co-aligned light source located alongan axis of the camera to emit light towards the eye; receiving, at thecamera, a version of the emitted light reflected from the surface of theeye; and determining the gaze location further based on the receivedversion of emitted light.
 17. The method of claim 13, further comprisingsequentially strobing the plurality of off-axis light sources.
 18. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising strobing the plurality ofoff-axis light sources simultaneously.
 19. The method of claim 13,further comprising: detecting, by the camera, a plurality of glints fromthe plurality of off-axis light sources reflected off the surface of theeye.
 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising: determining thegaze location further based on the detected plurality of glints.